Although Yahoo isn't as popular as Gmail or Outlook, many still use the company's service to exchange personal and business emails. Yahoo pales compared to Gmail and Outlook's AI features, integration with company apps, and other add-ons. Many have moved away from Yahoo due to security concerns, a lack of useful features, and growing ads on the platform. If you plan to move on from Yahoo, export your important emails on the desktop.
You can export all your Yahoo emails and import them to your preferred email provider, like Gmail or Outlook. If you use the Yahoo mobile app on your top budget Android phone, make sure to ditch it in favor of a capable third-party email app. Before we show you the steps to export Yahoo emails, let's first understand the possible reasons behind the move.
Why should you back up your Yahoo emails?
Several factors can affect your Yahoo experience. It's also recommended to take regular email backups to avoid data loss during security threats.
- Yahoo has a sketchy reputation with user security. In 2017, Yahoo admitted that 3 billion accounts were compromised on the company's platform.
- Frequent Yahoo email outages.
- Lack of innovative features.
- You want to move your Yahoo emails to Gmail or Outlook.
- To keep a local copy of important emails on the desktop.
How to export Yahoo email
The Outlook email client on Windows offers the easiest way to export your Yahoo emails. It supports Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo email services, and IMAP accounts. However, the same isn't available on the new Outlook app for Mac. First, you need to configure your Yahoo email account in the Outlook app and export messages to any location on your PC. Let's check it in action.
If you use a third-party email client like Thunderbird, temporarily switch to Microsoft Outlook desktop.
Microsoft is working on a web-based Outlook app on Windows. The company aims to replace the Mail & Calendar and the legacy Outlook app with this one. It's currently available in Preview. The steps below don't apply to it.
- Open Outlook on Windows and click File in the upper-right corner.
- Select Add Account under Info. Enter your Yahoo email ID.
- The Yahoo login page opens. Check account credentials.
- Select Next.
- Enter your password and click Next.
- Give relevant permission to let Outlook read your Yahoo data. Click Agree.
- Your account is successfully added.
- You can check your Yahoo emails from the sidebar. Click File and select Open & Export. Select Import/Export.
- Select Export to a file. Click Next.
- Select Outlook Data File. Click Next.
- Expand and select your Yahoo inbox. You can also include subfolders.
- You can also click Filter and select backup Yahoo emails that meet the set conditions.
- Click Browse.
- Choose a local folder on the hard drive.
- Select Finish to save Yahoo emails.
- Enter the Outlook Data File Password and click OK.
Make sure to remember this password. You must enter the same to complete authentication during the import process. You can use one of the top password managers to store such confidential information.
Open File Explorer and check your .pst file format. You can't double-click the data backup file and start reading messages. You need to import the same to your main email inbox.
How to import your Yahoo emails on Outlook or Gmail
You can easily import Yahoo emails to your existing email inbox. If you want to import your Yahoo emails to Gmail, set up your Gmail account in Microsoft Outlook for Windows. The steps remain identical to the section above (follow the first five sections to set up your Gmail account).
- Launch Outlook on Windows and click File in the menu bar.
- Select Import/Export under Open & Export.
- Select Import from another program & file and click Next.
- Select Outlook Data File (.pst). Click Next.
- Click Browse and find your Yahoo file on the PC. Click Next. You can replace duplicates with items imported, allow duplicates in the inbox, or stop duplicates completely.
- Click Next. The system asks for an Outlook Data File password (the one you created above). Click OK.
- You can include subfolders and click Filter to import messages from specific senders.
- Expand your email accounts and select your preferred email address.
- Click Finish. Your Yahoo emails appear in the main inbox.
If you have hundreds of Yahoo emails to import, it may take a while before they appear on your email account.
What about third-party Yahoo Mail backup solutions?
There's no shortage of third-party apps that offer the functionality to export your Yahoo emails. However, most Yahoo backup tools are paid solutions and may not work as expected. If you don't prefer a time-consuming manual method, try these apps. But we advise using software with a money-back guarantee.
Keep your email messages safe
We recommend sticking with the Outlook Windows app to complete the export and import process. Did you completely move from Yahoo to Gmail on your Android phone? If you are new to the Gmail mobile experience, check our best tips for using Gmail to get started.